Outrage as Good Samaritan snaps picture of a dog riding without water in tiny crate attached to SUV doing 70mph on Georgia highway

A concerned Facebook user posted an unsettling photo on the social media site over the weekend showing a dog riding in a small, open airline crate strapped to the back of an SUV.

The image was taken by Nicole Hubbard, an animal control officer from South Carolina, who spotted the dog carrier attached to a car driving down Interstate 95 in Georgia.

According to Hubbard, who spoke to the blog Pet360.com, locking an animal inside a crate on a hot day with temperatures in the mid-90s without access to water constituted animal abuse in her jurisdiction.

Animal cruelty: Nicole Hubbard, an animal control officer from South Carolina, spotted a crate with a Beagle mix inside attached to a Dodge SUV driving down Interstate 95 in Georgia

The woman said that the pup, who appeared to be a white Beagle mix weighing about 20lbs, also did not have enough room in the box to move around or even turn.

Good Samaritan: Hubbard had no jurisdiction in Georgia, so she contacted the local highway patrol and followed the SUV until helped arrived

Hubbard and her boyfriend were returning home from a vacation in Florida when they spied a Dodge Durango SUV with North Carolina license plates doing 70mph on I-95 with an open dog carrier tethered to a cargo holder.

The crate was tied with a bungee cord and a nylon strap, and the cargo carrier had no protective ramp,Yahoo! Shine reported. To make matters worse, the container was positioned directly behind the exhaust pipe.

Share this article

Having no jurisdiction in Georgia, Hubbard decided to alert the state highway patrol and was told over the phone that an officer will be dispatched to stop the SUV.

However, it was not until Hubbard and the driver of the Dodge crossed into South Carolina more than an hour and a half later that a local highway patrol officer pulled over the SUV with the dog crate.

It remains unknown if the owner of the Dodge Durango was issued a fine over the treatment of the pet.

The story has drawn more than 2,500 comments, with most users expressing outrage at the unidentified SUV driver, who apparently did not care enough about the pet to place it inside the car for the long drive.

Pets: Hubbard, who lives in Walhala, South Carolia, is the owner of two female pit bulls

Hubbard, who lives in Walhalla, South
Carolina, has been working as an animal control officer at the Oconnee
County Sheriff's Office since 2011. She is the proud owner of two female
pit bulls, whose photos grace her Facebook page.

Former
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney famously ended up in hot
water during the 2012 campaign when it was reported that two decades
earlier, the politician had strapped the family dog, Seamus, to the roof
of his car during a 12-hour trip from Boston to Ontario, Canada.

Do you know the owner of the dog? email MailOnline: websiteeditorial@assocnews.co.uk